Penns Grove mayor, some council members feud over who will be hired as new police officer

Penns Grove's mayor, some council member feuding over who to hire as a new police officer.

PENNS GROVE — A dispute has broken out between the borough’s mayor and some members of council over the process of hiring two new police officers.

State officials approved for the borough to hire two additional officers back in April, with hopes the extra officers would help cut down crippling overtime expenses accrued by the borough police department.

As a financially distressed municipality, Penns Grove is a recipient of state Transitional Aid. In receiving the funds, the borough must receive state approval before hiring any new employees.

Borough officials requested to hire four officers, but the state only approved for them to hire two.

At that time, council approved a motion to hire officer Anthony Minguez for one of the positions.

The mayor and council have spent the past several weeks debating who should be hired to fill the second position.

During last week’s regular council meeting, the debate erupted into an argument over who had proper authority to appoint the officer (mayor or council) when Council President Carol Mincey made a motion to hire George Manganaro as the new officer, seconded by Councilman Joseph Venello.

Mayor John Washington denied the motion, and said that he planned to appoint former Penns Grove officer Dominic Rullo for the position, previously laid off from the borough for financial reasons.

“Why, with a laid off officer, are you bringing up another name?” Washington said in response to the motion. “The motion is out of order. The mayor makes the appointments.”

Venello and Mincey responded that a motion and second had been made, and asked for a council vote. Again the mayor denied the motion.

Council then asked the borough solicitor for a call to order, to determine who had appropriate authority to make the appointment.

“The issue is who appoints the officer, and such appointments are made on the concurrence of the council,” said Solicitor Adam Telsey. “My recollection of the ordinance is that the mayor is correct. He makes the appointments.”

Telsey added that state statute says that officers laid off for economic reasons should be given preference for consideration when the position again becomes available. If council isn’t going to re-hire an officer, there should be specific reasons, he said.

Venello, Mincey and Councilman Mark Oliver said that they had reasons, which were based off an interviewing process for the position. They would not discuss the reasons in a public meeting, but said that the mayor could not deny a motion made by council.

“With all do respect, there’s a motion and a second,” said Venello. “We’re saying according to the statute, preference was given. We decided against it. We’re moving forward.”

The mayor continued to deny the motion, and said the council was acting out of order.

“We’re going to bring back the laid off police officer,” said Washington. “I’m not going to have my house taken from me... I’m not giving any turf.”

The back and forth between the mayor and some members of council continued on for about 30 minutes before the issue was held off to be continued in a closed session at a later date.

Following the argument, Rullo (the laid off officer in question) approached the council. Looking at Venello, he made remarks about “personal issues” between the two, and said that he planned to take the issue to court if his position was not restored.

“I hope the right thing gets done here,” said Rullo. “If you don’t make the right decision, it’s contested and I’ll see you in court.”

Venello, Mincey and Oliver each denied any personal issues at play, and said their reasons were based off interviews and personnel file information.

The council meeting came one day after the Primary Election in which Washington defeated Venello to win the Democratic nomination to run for mayor in the November General Election.

Mincey was also defeated in her bid to run for re-election on the Democratic ticket in November. She was defeated by two Democratic council candidates backed by Washington.